Ken:
If the unions agreed with a CoL increase, I think the Company would jump but there is a lot more involved than a simple pay rise to keep up with inflation. For example, unions are apparently seeking security of tenure. No one in 2011 in their right minds would agree with that concept. Same applies to improved travel conditions, subsidisation of union activities etc. Need I go on? Action hurts the Company, not just directly with delays etc but goodwill. If a traveller feels that the unions are going to bugger-up his or her travel, he or she will travel with another airline. It's that simple. That is the result of industrial action.
1. The company has not even offered cost of living increases.
2. Nobody has asked for "security of tenure" they just want an end to the deliberate offshoring of jobs.
3.Your point about good will is correct. Qantas has ignored it for years. Ask anyone who paid for travel via Qantas and finds themselves on a Jetstar service.